There’s panic for Coronation Street favourite Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) when she collapses at number 13 and requires urgent medical attention.
When she began to suffer symptoms she originally attributed to the menopause, Debbie sought medical advice.
After the doctor learned that Debbie had been suffering blackouts, chronic mood swings and increasing levels of forgetfulness, he diagnosed her with young-onset dementia and told her that the blackouts were probably due TIA’s (mini strokes) and warned that they were likely to continue.
Debbie, utterly rocked, resolved to keep her diagnosis secret, particularly from brother Kevin (Michael Le Vell) who was battling testicular cancer and long-term partner Ronnie Bailey (Vinta Morgan), who she broke up with, determined not to become a burden.
Following further incidents, including passing out in front of her family, Debbie finally revealed the truth about her condition.
As more and more people learned of her dementia, including Ronnie, he set out to reunite with his ex. Debbie put up a fight, but ultimately accepted that Ronnie wanted to support her, and the two reunited.
They further solidified their love when Debbie proposed at the wedding of Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin) and Bernie Winter (Jane Hazlegrove).
Upcoming episodes will see Debbie decide to let herself into Kevin’s house to do a touch of cleaning while he and his family are away on holiday.
Debbie is, however, unaware that Abi (Sally Carman-Duttine) has faked the loss of her passport in order to stay at home and continue her clandestine affair with her husbands brother, Carl (Jonathan Howard).
In fact, when Debbie enters number 9, Carl is upstairs while Abi is at the shop, fetching drinks.
Debbie begins to falter, speaking incoherently and eventually collapsing, Carl comes down to investigate, finding his sister in a bad way.
As Abi returns home, she’s relieved that Debbie didn’t see him before her incident and shoos him away before calling an ambulance.
With Debbie’s dementia storyline is set to play out going ‘well into 2027,’ with the soap determined to show the impact of living with dementia, we know that this incident won’t prove to be fatal, but what impact will it have?
